Pokémon: Deep Waters
by Leshanique
Summary: From the small, torn apart village of Blackthorn City, a young girl aspires to become a water type Pokémon master. She makes her decision to travel with a boy her age, but where will that decision lead to? Happiness and success, or peril and danger?
1. A Lonely Beginning

I've always looked up to my mother. She was always there for me, when I needed her. When I had a struggle, instead of rescuing me and hiding me from the outside world, she would dare me to stand up for myself and take responsibility. Sometimes that really didn't work out too well (trust me, I still have the scars). Still, my mother always believed in me, when no one else would. But the time came when I needed her guidance the most… and she was nowhere to be found. The day I became a Pokémon trainer.

As the morning sunshine shone through my thin curtains, I rolled out of bed to start off my usual procedure. I went to the bathroom, grabbed my bag, and headed out. No need to leave a note, my mom would know where I was. I headed down the hill my house is perched on top of and took in the view for the millionth time. The orange sky slowly turning blue as the sun rose up from the mountains, waterfalls and lakes shimmering in the sunlight. Seeing my village of Blackthorn City torn apart from latest storm that brewed up last week. But the village is slowly recovering, and I know things will get better. It always does.

After a few minutes, I find my self in my familiar safe haven. I set my bag down and take off the top layers of my clothes so I'm only wearing my one piece bathing suit which I always have on me. I walk on top of the smooth, cold stone and step into the refreshing pool. My mom showed me this natural spring when I was 7 years old and as long as I remember, I always came here when I was troubled or anxious. The sound of the small waterfall pouring into the pool always calmed me.

I submerged into the water completely and listened to the sounds of the forest around me. Bird Pokémon, bug Pokémon… Soon I'll be getting my very own Pokémon. I have no idea which species of Pokémon I'll get. I sure hope that it's a water type, though. I've always loved the water Pokémon. My entire family has. My mother used to be a water Pokémon trainer. I want to be like that, too. But what if I get one that doesn't like me? I have no idea what's going to happen when I first head down to Professor Elm's lab all the way in New Bark Town. What if he doesn't think I'm good enough, and I have to go back to training school?

"Poli!" I nearly jumped out of the pool at the sound. I looked around, and I saw a small little Poliwag staring at me from behind a small rock. When we made eye contact, it panicked and went back to hiding. I swam to the other side of the pool to get closer to the rock. But when I looked behind it, there was nothing there. I looked up at the sky and realized how long I was in the pool. I quickly patted myself down with a towel and ran back home.

I looked at the clock in my room as I dressed and realized I only had a few minutes to get ready and head down to the Pokémon center for my ride to New Bark Town. I grabbed the backpack full of things I needed for my journey and quickly ran downstairs to grab my mom. I expected her to be in the kitchen with the family Azumarill, Lapis, but she was nowhere to be found. How could my mom leave the house on the most important day of my life? How could she forget? Then I thought she might be at the Pokémon center already. She must be! I ran as fast as I could to the Pokémon center, hoping that my mother was there waiting for me.

I ran past the many houses in the village. The people waved to me, and I hastily waved back. When I finally reached the Pokémon center, I looked around for my mother. When I didn't find her right away, I went up to Nurse Joy and asked for my mother. But she hadn't seen my mother walk in yet. Where could she be?

As I walked out of the Pokémon Center to look for my mother in the village, the sound of squeaking tires on rock reached my ears. I turned around to see a young college guy getting out of a small car.

"Are you Evanna Star?" The guy asked.

"Yeah, that's me." I answered. "Are you my ride to New Bark Town?"

"I sure am. Hurry up and get in the car, we're kind of running a little late." He got back into the car.

That was when I started to panic. My mom said that she would come with me to New Bark Town, and stay with me until I started my journey. I thought about calling her on my Pokégear when I saw that she left me a voice mail.

"Hello sweetie, it's me, Mom. I'm so sorry but I won't be able to come with you to New Bark Town because the amount of sick people in the village has risen and I need to stay here to help heal them with Lapis. Think of it as a test to see how well you can do on your own on your Pokémon Journey! I love you, and I'll get back to you as-"

The voicemail cut her off. That's it, I thought. I'm going to be going all alone to the other side of the Johto region. I turned around and saw the guy looking at me impatiently. I quickly got in the car and the guy slammed on the gas. I was on my way to become a Pokémon Trainer. At last.


	2. Waiting

**Sorry I didn't post this chapter yesterday, I started typing but with 1.6 being released on Minecraft I got distracted and forgot to post it. Sorry! But here you guys go c:**

I looked out the window of the moving car and saw the landscape slowly come into focus. We were speeding down an empty Route 45 and when we drove out of the thick woods, we found ourselves driving past beautiful mountain ranges and shimmering lakes. After a few hours we finally started to slow down as we neared New Bark Town. There were more cars now; I guessed they were also full of children my age waiting to get their first Pokémon.

The car stopped out side of the small town. The driver gave me directions to Professor Elm's lab. I got out of the car as I thanked the guy, and ran over to the town. There were only a few houses, and a large one towering over the rest. I figured that must be the lab.

Before I could get a better look at the building, however, I saw a mass of people crowding around the building. Most of them were adults, some holding young children, around the age of 8. What were they doing here? They were still too young to become trainers. I tried to get to the door, but the adults were not letting me through. As I was wondering what in the world I was going to do, I heard large doors opening and a man yelling. Soon, most of the grumbling people started to leave and I heard a few children crying. The people that stayed, however, were some parents and mostly kids of my age — around 11 and 12.

I also finally got a look at the man standing at the door. He was tall and slender, with short light brown hair, glasses, and a lab coat. He wiped his brow with a handkerchief and sighed. He looked around at us and realized he was not alone.

"Oh! Hello everyone!" The man said. "My name is Professor Elm. I hope you all got an appointment, because if you don't, I'm going to ask you to leave."

He looked around at each of us, and he gave a suspicious squint to a pair of blonde twins. He must have decided we all had appointments because then he said,

"Well, let's not waste another moment! Come in, everyone! Single file, please!" He opened the door again and we all followed him inside to the lab. I was in the back of the line, except for the blonde twins that were behind me.

Professor Elm led the line to the reception desk, where a lady took the people's ID card and scanned them. Then it came to me that I didn't even _have _an ID card! If only my mother was here to help me, she would know what to do. But she isn't here — what am I going to do?

"ID card, please," The lady asked me when I reached her desk.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have an ID card," I sputtered nervously. The twins behind me snickered. I'm never going to get my Pokémon now, I thought. The lady sighed and looked over me, and her eyes stopped on my wrist.

"You have a Pokégear, you can use that as a form of identification. Give it to me, here."

I let out a breath of relief as I unhooked my Pokégear and handed it over to the receptionist. She turned it on and scanned it, then gave it back to me.

"Thank you, Evanna. You may move on."

I followed the line into a large waiting room, where the rest of the line started sitting down in cushioned chairs. As I was taking my seat, I heard arguing coming from the reception desk. Professor Elm heard it too, and he strode back to the desk. I stood back up to see what was going on.

The blonde twins that were behind me had angry, bitter scowls on their faces as Professor Elm asked them what was going on.

"We came here to get our Pokémon, like everyone else," The blonde boy said.

"Well, then what's the problem?" Professor Elm asked, genuinely confused.

"I've scanned they're ID's, sir," the receptionist said. "But they're not on the list of appointments."

"Well you need to check your eyes, because we're supposed to be here!" The blonde girl yelled. More people were starting to notice the argument, and the twins' cheeks became more flushed.

"Listen, children," Professor Elm said exasperatedly. "If your parents did not make an appointment, you can not get a Pokémon. Now please leave before I have to force you."

The twins looked at each other, then back at Elm and the other people watching them.

"You're going to regret turning us down, because we're going to become the most powerful trainers in the entire world, and you won't be able to stop us." They stormed out the doors, and they were gone. For now.

After things calmed back down, we all sat back down in our seats as the kids got called into Professor Elm's room to choose their starter Pokémon. At this point I was excited to the point where I craned my neck every time the door opened to see if I could get a glimpse inside. However, the door shut very quickly so I couldn't make out the inside of the room.

While I was sitting by my self, I realized that all the other kids were sitting with their mom or dad; or even with both. I was hoping nobody would notice that I was alone when a boy my age sat down next to me. He was wearing a black shirt, skinny jeans, All-Star Converse, and a blue down vest with the Pokémon logo on it. He had messy, reddish-brown hair under a black cap also with the Pokémon logo. If you were to look up 'Pokémon trainer' in a dictionary, he would be the picture next to the entry.

"Um… Hi, my name is Evanna." I said, hopefully trying to break the awkward silence. He turned to me as if just noticing me, and smiled.

"Hey, I'm Austin. Nice to meet you," He said, shaking my hand. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Blackthorn City," I answered, glad that we're making some conversation. "What about you?"

"I'm from Violet City. It's not too far away from here, so I thought I could just ride my bike here but I under-estimated the time and I got here a little late." He gave a shaky laugh. "By the way, did you see those blonde twins back there? I ran into them as I was getting in here and they nearly pushed me over. What's up with them?"

"Oh, they were just upset because they didn't have their appointment and didn't get a Pokémon. They said Professor Elm would regret turning them down, or something."

"Austin Palmers!" A voice from Professor Elm's room rang through the waiting room.

"That's me," Austin said, getting up from his chair and grabbing his backpack. "I'll see you later Evanna."

After a few minutes, I expected Austin to come out of the room with his new Pokémon in hand. Oddly enough, never came out, yet more people went in. None of those people came out, either.

Finally, when I was one of the few still sitting in the waiting room, I heard my name.

"Evanna Star!"

I got up and wiped my sweaty palms on my blue skirt. I grabbed my bag and went inside the room, not knowing what would be inside.


	3. The Decision

When I entered Professor Elm's room, I found my self in a crowded, cluttered, messy room full of gadgets and electronics.

"You must be Evanna, yes?" a voice asked. I turned to the voice and a man I've never seen before stood staring at me. "My name is Professor Oak. I'm a Pokémon Researcher from Kanto. Nice to meet you." He shook my hand.

"Alright, Evanna. Thank you for your patience," Professor Elm called from his desk. "We've been getting so many requests for children to have their starter Pokémon, but most of the time, they're not even old enough! Plus, with all of the requests, we have been running out of tamed, easy starter Pokémon for the children to pick." Uh oh, I thought. Does that mean I won't be able to choose the one I want…?

"But don't worry," Professor Oak reassured. "We have plenty of Pokémon for you to choose from! Take a look at the screen." He gestured me to the bright computer screen. He took a seat in the chair and started clicking on icons, and with each click a new Pokémon popped up. "Is there any kind of Pokémon you prefer?"

"I really like water Pokémon!" I said without hesitation. I was surprised that the Professors were being very kind. I imagined that they would have been grumpier.

"Alright! Let's check the water type category, then." The professor clicked on a blue icon and showed me the list of water type Pokémon. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. Psyduck, Goldeen, Luvdisc, Wooper, Qwilfish, and other Pokémon that really didn't seem interesting or eye-catching. Sure, they were pretty good Pokémon, but I wanted something _special. _Since I didn't really have any other choice, I kept browsing and browsing through the list, trying to pick out the one I thought I liked the most, but I didn't really like any of them.

After a while, I could tell they were become a little impatient. Professor Elm started to look around his room, when he asked me something.

"Evanna, didn't you come with a parent?"

I looked away from the computer, glad to take a break from looking at the endless list of boringness, and faced the puzzled professor.

"No, my mom was supposed to come with me, but she had to stay in Blackthorn City."

"What? What could be more important than your child receiving their first Pokémon?"

"My mom and her Azumarill had to stay behind to help heal the sick people. We had a terrible storm last week, and more people are getting sick." I could tell from his expression that he was worried about me.

"Do you have a companion with you on your journey?" Elm asked. "Or are you going off all alone?"

"No, it's just going to be me and my Pokémon." I turned back around and started to look through the list, starting to choose which one would be the best. The decision was hard. I was choosing over Horsea, Feebas, or Psyduck. They weren't really great Pokémon, but after training, they would evolve to pretty great Pokémon. But how was I going to train such weak Pokémon? Well, it's all or nothing.

" I guess I choose..."

"Wait." Professor Oak said. "Evanna, let me tell you something. Choosing your first Pokémon is the most important thing you will ever do in your Pokémon journey. I come here to make sure the Pokémon the child chooses is a good fit for them. By the looks of it, you're choosing between Horsea, Feebas, and Psyduck. They're great Pokémon for a trainer that has some form of help with them. But you — brave, young, girl — have a bigger challenge ahead of you. You can't just start your journey with a weak Psyduck. No, you need something stronger."

My heart shrank. I knew where he was going. I would have to get a stronger Pokémon: maybe a fire type, a rock type, or a fighting type.

"So what other type will I have to choose from?" I asked soberly.

"What?" Professor Oak looked taken back, then started laughing. "No, no! You've got the wrong idea. I'm saying that you should choose from one of my rare, strong starters!"

I was shocked. Of all people, of all the other kids out there, he chooses me… He chooses _me _to choose from his rare collection. I was speechless.

"Now, I don't do this very often," Professor Oak considered. "In fact, I've only done this once today, and back then I thought I wouldn't do it again for another year! I choose very specific people to care for my rare Pokémon. Have you heard of the trainer named Ash Ketchum?"

Was he kidding? Of course I've heard of Ash Ketchum, he's the most famous trainer of the decade!

"Yes, he's pretty amazing. I've heard all about him and his Pikachu." I said, still not believing what was happening.

"Yes. At first, I had my doubts about him, but deep in my heart I knew he would turn out to be a great trainer. And I was right. Sadly, these rare Pokémon have become more difficult to catch and to train properly, so I can't just give them away willy-nilly, like I could in the old days. But I see some potential in you, Evanna. I will be right back."

Professor Oak went back out the door. I wondered what kind of Pokémon he was getting. After a few minutes of silence, Professor Oak burst in huffing and puffing, and holding a large, transparent case full of Pokéballs. At this moment, all of my anxiety washed away and was replaced with excitement.

The professor set down the case onto Elm's cluttered desk, and showed me which Pokémon was in each of the Pokéballs. He showed me Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip, Piplup, Oshawott, and Froakie. I was in love with all of them, but one of them caught my attention the most.

"Could I take out Squirtle, please?" I asked. He handed me the Pokéball, and I held it gently in my hand like it was a precious gem. I tossed it in the air, and a red light flashed in the crowded room.

"Squirtle!"


	4. First Step

Chapter 4

"Squirtle!"

The instant the Squirtle — _my _Squirtle came out of its Pokéball, I jumped and picked it up.

"Hi Squirtle!" I said excitedly. "My name is Evanna, and I'm your new friend!" I waited for Squirtle's reaction. I tried to read its expression. Was it happy? Angry? Excited?

All of the sudden, I was on the floor, drenched in cold water. I tried to keep a grip on my Squirtle, but it wriggled free from my arms. I knew it would be difficult to befriend my first Pokémon, but I didn't expect this. As I got back up, Professor Oak handed me Squirtle's Pokéball.

"Here, call her back into the Pokéball," he said. I took the Pokéball and pressed the button. A red light reached Squirtle and it was back in its Pokéball. I sighed.

"Professor, are all Pokémon like this in the beginning?" I asked.

"Well, some Pokémon are a little difficult, yes, but once you start training with it, it should become friendlier," Professor Elm said.

I looked at the Pokéball. I hoped he was right, because I was afraid Squirtle would be difficult to deal with.

"Are you going to give Squirtle a nickname? Sometimes, giving it a nickname helps your bond become stronger," Professor Oak said. I thought about it, but couldn't think of anything.

"I think I'll wait to give it a name. I want the name to be special,'' I said.

"Well then Evanna Star, you are ready to start your journey into the Pokémon world!"

I walked out through the back door of Professor Elm's lab (he said he didn't want the children to show off their Pokémon in the waiting room). I walked to the edge of the town, near route 29 where there were a few benches. Before I started "my Pokémon journey," I decided to sit down and start to make some plans.

I turned on my Pokégear and checked the map app. According to the map, my next destination was Cherrygrove city. There wasn't much there, except for a Pokémon center and a PokéMart. I decided Route 29 would be a good place to start training with Squirtle.

I got up and strolled towards Route 29, thinking, this is it; I'm finally going to become a Pokémon trainer! I saw a few of the other children and their parents that were in the waiting room earlier, with their brand new Pokémon. I tried to keep in the shadows of the trees, so that they don't notice me trying to train Squirtle. I kept walking until I found a nice clearing where I didn't think any of the other kids would see me.

"Squirtle, come on out!" I threw the Pokéball in the air and let Squirtle out. Now would be a good time to register it in my Pokédex, I thought.

"Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon," My Pokédex said as it scanned my Squirtle that was rolling around in the grass, not paying attention to me. "It draws its long neck into its shell to launch incredible water attacks with amazing range and accuracy." It showed on the screen Squirtle's moves: Tackle, Water Gun, Withdraw, and Bubble. It was a level 6.

"Alright, Squirtle. Ready to train?" I asked, stepping closer to it. It stopped rolling around and looked up at me. We stood there for a few seconds, just staring at each other, when it suddenly shot water at me from its mouth again. I ducked and luckily, I avoided most of the attack.

When I got up, however, Squirtle was already running off towards where the other trainers were. "Wait!" I called. I sprinted after it, hoping the other trainers wouldn't see me. Thankfully, I didn't see any trainers around me. I tried running as fast as I could, but Squirtle was a lot faster than me. Soon, it was getting nearly out of sight. I wondered if Pokéballs could call back Pokémon from afar. However, it turned out I didn't have to.

Just as I thought I couldn't see Squirtle anymore, the silhouette of a boy came into my line of vision. As I ran toward it, I recognized the boy as Austin. He was also holding Squirtle in his hands. God, how embarrassing.

I stopped running when I reached Austin. Breathing heavily, I took Squirtle from Austin's hands and held on tight. "Looks like you have a bit of a problem there, Evanna," he said as he chuckled softly.

I shot him a dirty look. "Well, how's _your _first day going?"

"Oh, it's going fine," he said smugly. "My Charmander is already on level 8."

"Charmander?" I asked in curiosity. Charmander was also one of the rare Pokémon, like Squirtle. I remembered what Professor Oak said. _Now, I don't do this very often. In fact, I've only done this once today, and back then I thought I wouldn't do it again for another year! _I realized that he was talking about Austin.

"Yes, Charmander," he said, looking at me funny. "So how about that battle?"

"I don't know…" I thought. "Squirtle still doesn't trust me."

"I think a battle should bring you two closer. Come on, it'll be fun!"

He was right. If we had a battle and we won, Squirtle should trust me more than it does now. What other chance would I get, anyway?

"Alright, let's do it!"


End file.
